Supporting Patient Care with a Visual Gene Explorer for Clinicians

We worked with Sarepta Therapeutics to build an app to help clinicians understand and explore exon skipping in Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Introduction

Sarepta Therapeutics is a U.S. biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of gene therapies to treat rare neuromuscular diseases. The company’s primary focus area, Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), is a disease that could be potentially treated by exon skipping.

To determine whether a patient would be a good candidate for Sarepta’s treatment, clinicians need to review a genetic report and compare it to a map of the exons of the dystrophin gene.

In an effort to streamline that process for clinicians, the digital team at Sarepta engaged Division Of/ to build an interactive mobile application version of the exon map.

Challenge

How can we make the app interface as intuitive and simple as possible, so clinicians are likely to use it (and guide patients toward Sarepta’s treatment when appropriate)?

Solution

Easy does it

We developed an app so simple to use that it has virtually no learning curve. In the single-screen interface, a clinician sees a simple exon map of the dystrophin gene.

The numbered grid of shapes (each an exon that is part of the gene) fit together seamlessly. Since a patient’s genetic test reports indicate which exons are missing by number, the clinician can simply select the corresponding numbers on the map.

If the shapes are mismatched after deletion, then the patient is not a candidate for the treatment.

If the shapes are flush after deletion, Sarepta’s exon skipping treatment may work for the patient.

With only two button options (Delete and Restart), the app is extremely intuitive. The entire process of qualifying a patient for exon skipping treatment takes only a few minutes.

Results

Praised by Clinicians

Clinicians are excited by the app’s easy-to-use interface and the immediate results it provides, and adoption has grown rapidly as a result. Sarepta is currently expanding availability to clinicians in the Middle East and Europe.